What’s New for 2015-Resolution #2

1. Back at least one KickStarter project. I will be looking to sponsor one new game this year.

2. Go through my labels to find topics I might want to expound on, delete labels and or posts that have become stagnate.

 a. Some topics I would like to give more "air-time" to:

  i. Dungeon crawl

  ii. Monsters

  iii. Reaper familiars

  iv. Evil toys

3. Games, game rules, and miniatures

4. Scenery and Scenic Pieces

5. Spend more time on forums

6. Learn more about the art of painting miniatures

This effort will ongoing throughout the year. If I have a post with a label that hasn’t been used for some time and I have no intention of doing so any time soon, the label gets deleted.

I have also decided not to use book titles as labels, except when the title might see some future made to it. See the Redwall label for instance of a title that got some use, while Defiance at Sea hasn’t got any “air-time” (I might leave this one because of my original plans to feature some of the battles mentioned in this book) .

The labels that will receive more “air-time” are those topics and miniatures I have an interest in at this time. Miniatures relative to these topics will be ordered over the next few months.

The Badgers of Redwall and Mossflower: Finding Purpose for my Splintered Light Miniatures

I am in the process of completing my Splintered Light Miniatures 20mm badger and am looking for his purpose in life. My badger could be a female badger, but I am assuming that one carrying a battle axe would be a male. I have yet to name this miniature, but I will most likely use one of the characters from the Redwall series. So far in my reading I have come across the following badgers.

Redwall 

• Constance

Mossflower

• Bella of Brockhall
• Boar the Fighter
• Bluestripe the Wild
• Sunflash the Mace(AKA Sunstripe)

Hare’s featured in Redwall

Although there are other hares I have yet to meet, in the Redwall series, one hare is prominent in the first volume in the Redwall. Basil Stag Hare, previously a member of the Fur and Foot Fighting Patrol, as well as an outfit known as the 47th Hare Border Rangers had played a big part in the first volume of Redwall. “Basil Stag was an expert in camouflage, and was well-known for his appetite.” Basil befriended Matthias had helped Matthias in freeing several of Matthias’s compatriots from Cluny the Scourge.

With this entry, I have added another new label to my ever growing collection of tags. This entry is labeled, among other descriptors, Hare’s and Rabbits. I have grouped the two of these two creatures together, not because they are one of the same species, but because they have similar characteristics.

Mice of Redwall

There are many notable and a few notorious characters within the pages of Redwall. Some of the most noteworthy are its mice citizens. Mice have been inhabitants of Redwall since the beginning. "In Redwall mice have always been considered good creatures; Redwall's founding fathers, Abbots, and its Abbesses have been mice."

While the majority of the mice have been peaceful and devoted to their vespers there have been a few notable exceptions. Martin, Matthias, and Luke were warrior mice and protected the abbey and its inhabitants from harm.

Here are eight notable mouse characters that are found within the Redwall series:

• Martin the Warrior
• Matthias the Warrior
• Cornflower Fieldmouse
• Matthias Methuselah Mortimer
• Martin II
• Laterose of Noonvale
• Luke the Warrior
• Gonff the Mousethief

A Song of Matthias

Looking through my notes on my readings of Redwall I found this song, which really is more a riddle than anything else. This song was sung by Matthias, the warrior mouse, to the King Bull Sparra, after the King had a collar put on Matthiases neck. The mouse, as he danced around singing his improvised song was thought to be crazy by the King and his attendants, but the song was telling of how things really stood. Bull Sparrow would soon be deposed by his sister and the sparrows would become allies of the Redwall abbey.

“Up higher than before,
I’m near the roof indeed,
The King gave me a collar,
His sister holds the lead.”

A Journey to the Center of the Earth-Another Meal

I picked this novel first because of its cover. The A Journey to the Center of the Earth epub has an illustrated cover that depicts several giant mushrooms with the professor and his nephew admiring these specimens.

This is another case where an author mentioned food and detailed what was consumed by the characters of the story. The last time a menu was described was in my reading of Redwall, where a grand banquet was held for the friends and occupants of the Abbey. In both cases the meal was described before some great event took place. As was the case in Redwall, it was the battle with Cluny the Scourge and his forces of evil. In A Journey to the Center of the Earth it was before the departure of the Professor and his nephew to Iceland.

I was a little surprised not to see any mushrooms on the menu. In chapter one of A Journey to the Center of the Earth there a dinner mentioned. It contained the following items:

Parsley Soup
Omelet of ham, garnished with spiced sorrel
Fillet of Veal with compote of prunes

Sweet Moselle

Desert
Crystallized fruit

Books by Brian Jacques

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the first part of the Redwall Adventures. With its interesting plot and characters I believe this series would make a great RPG (which it already is) or skirmish war game. So, it is off to read the rest of the novels in this series. I have a long way to go, but there is no time like the present.  Mossflower will be added to my next order with Amazon.

The Redwall Adventures

The list is in chronological order as to when they were published.

=============================================================

Redwall

Mossflower                                    

Mattimeo                                          

Mariel of Redwall                              

Salamandastron                                  

Martin the Warrior                            

The Bellmaker                                     

Outcast of Redwall                        

The Pearls of Lutra                         

The Long Patrol                                 

Marlfox                                                

The Legend of Luke                      

Lord Brocktree                                 

The Taggerung                                

Triss                                                       

Loamhedge                                        

Rakkety Tam                                     

High Rhulain                                      

Eulalia!                                                 

Doomwyte                                        

The Sable Queen                          

A Collection of Redwall Resources

Here a few random Redwall resources I recently found online. I already mentioned two of these in previous posts, but I thought it might be nice to mention them again in this list.

The OO Cities site offers among other things maps from the Redwal l series. It seems that each book offers a different map of the Redwall and its vicinity.

RPG Redwall offers information boards on many different aspects of Redwall and on how you can get started playing this online RPG.

Redwall Net offers links to forums, an extensive collection of recipes based on the series, a library where you can read descriptions and summaries of all of the Redwall books.

The Redwall Wiki offers information about all things Redwall, like characters, locations mentioned in the book and images of the characters as they were depicted in the animated series.

The Official Redwall site features the work of Brain Jacques the creator of Redwall. The site offers the visitor the chance to download e-pubs, read up on upcoming works by Brain, and purchase copies of the Redwall series that you might have missed.

Finding a purpose for my Splintered Light Miniatures-Redwall

I have finished reading Redwall and I feel that this book would make a very good resource for a war game or RPG. In fact there is a Redwall RPG already. The text contains three books, The Wall, The Quest, and The Warrior. Although I feel that the second and third parts of this story are better suited for a war game, I suppose that part one could be worked into a game.

Splintered Light Miniatures offers many fine miniatures of mice and rats, the two main character types in the text, but also offers a host of other animals that were mentioned in the text.

Although a bit smaller than I envision the abbey, the Mini-Art offers a 1/72 Medieval Fortress could be used to complete a scene. Many of the scenes of the siege of the abbey could be set up using this model and Splintered Light Miniatures.

Redwall-The Third and Final Riddle

And from where the shield had hung were written these words:

" 'By the moonlight, on the hour,
In my threshold space lay me.
Watch the beam reflect my power,
Unite once more my sword with me.
I - am that is, stand true for all.
O Warrior Mouse, protect Redwall. ' "

Redwall, page 142

Redwall-The Second Riddle

Down the steps the two mice went. Down into the depths of the earth and to Martin the Warriors’ interment site... Upon a lintel of the door it was written:

" ‘The same as the steps 'twixt the Hall,
Remember and look to the center.
My password again is Redwall,
Am that is, you alone are to enter' "

Redwall, page 142

Redwall-Sela the Fox and the Double Cross

Cluny and his compatriots had tried to use a tree to get into the Abbey, but were discovered and thwarted. The board in which Cluny and his crew hoped to use to walk across to gain access the Abbey’s wall went crashing down and with it Cluny and many of his followers.

Although Cluny’s life was held in the balance; he was luckier than many of the others. He lay in his bed raked in pain. A creature with healing arts was sent for. Sela the fox arrived and administered healing herbs and said incantations over the battle worn rat.

The fox was promised treasure once the abbey was sacked, but she thought of playing a dangerous game and play on both sides. She intended on sending the folks of the abbey news of Cluny’s plans, for a price.

“I’ve sold hens their own eggs back and stolen the whiskers from farmyard dogs.”

Redwall, page 139

Redwall Character Wiki

There are many wonderful characters represented within pages of Redwall. Each character in Redwall has its own unique character. The Redwall Wiki identifies all of Brian Jacques' Redwalls characters, their personalities, and provides biographies for each character.

Redwall-Riddle #1

This is the first riddle that the ancient and learned one and Matthias are confronted with. The inscription was found where the image of Martin the Warrior used to be. This likeness in a form on a tapestry was recently stolen by one of Cluny’s emissaries the Shadow.

The poem and riddle, once unraveled, will open a secret entrance under the steps of the Abbey that will lead to the internment site of the warrior and other riddles.

‘Who says that I am dead
Knows naught at all.
I – am that is,
Two mice within Redwall.
The Warrior sleeps
“Twixt Hall and Cavern Hole.
I – am that is,
Take on my mighty role.
Look for the sword
In moonlight streaming forth,
At night, when day’s first hour
Reflects the North.
From o’er the threshold
Seek and you will see;
I – am that is,
My sword will wield for me.’”

Redwall, page 128

Redwall- Cluny the Scourge

Cluny the Scourge was the leader of a horde of rats that are bent on murder and destruction and was said to be heading toward Redwall, but Cluny was part of folk legend and was a warning used by mothers when their youngsters were disobedient:

“Go to sleep or Cluny will get you!”
“Eat up your dinner or Cluny will come!”
“Come in this instant, or I’ll tell Cluny!”

“Most creatures didn’t even know what Cluny was. He was some sort of boogeyman that lived in bad dreams and in the dark corners of the imagination.”

Redwall, page 35

Redwall-The Feast

I remember reading a western where the characters in the book were eating burro jerky that had been roasted on the coals of their fire, or where they feasted on freshly prepared corn tortillas and beans, or in another novel the character mentions what we had for breakfast each morning while he was in town conducting business. The mention of food in a novel has an away to draw the reader in. Who hasn’t eaten a meal?

In the third chapter of Redwall the author mentions a feast that the occupants are about to partake. The menu is as follows:

Tender fresh water shrimp garnished with cream and rose leaves. Devilled barley pearls in acorn puree
Apple and carrot chews
Marinated cabbage stalks steeped in white turnip with nutmeg
“Greyling a la Redwall”

This is not to mention the nuts, cheeses, and other delicacies that were consumed. There was so much food that even after everyone ate their fill there was still so much left over.

Before they all sat down to eat Abbot Mortimer rose, spread his paws over the festive board and said grace over the meal.

“Fur and whisker, tooth and claw,
All who enter by our door.
Nuts and herbs, leaves and fruits,
Berries, tubers, plants, and roots,
Silver fish whose life we take
Only for a meal to make.”

Redwall, page 22.

Maps of Redwall

Back in my Maps of Fictional Places post I mentioned the maps that I have encountered in my readings. There is a map in the beginning of the book entitled Redwall Abbey and Surrounding Countryside. Since this map takes up the first couple of pages I could come up with a method of taking a picture of the map and not get may finger in the picture I went online to find an image of this map. The Redwall Map site offers the Redwall Abbey and Surrounding Countryside map and the maps found in other texts in this series.

An Introduction to Redwall

I have started to reading Brian Jacques' Redwall. This is the first in a long series of fantasy novels by this prolific fantasy writer. Redwall is a reference to the Redwall Abbey. The abbey is populated by mice and their meadow and woodland friends. The story has been very spirited and is very imaginative. The story depicts a conflict with Cluny the Scourge. Cluny was the God or War. The story is about the forces of good against the forces of evil.

Finding a Purpose for my Splintered Light Miniatures

Back in July of last year I pondered what miniatures might be appropriate for Experimental Playground’s Mutants and Machine-Guns’ RPG. At that time I was considering on using Splintered Lights 20mm animal figures for the RPG’s Evolved Animals.

Since then I have been thinking on how I could expand the use of these miniatures. Could the Redwall series by Brian Jacques or The Chronicles of Narnia be an answer? Both series make use of animated and demonstrative animal characters. Could these plots be woven into their own RPG or war/adventure game?